Super.money’s Broking Foray, BYJU’S Sorrows, and Udaan Buys ShopKirana

When Flipkart‑backed Super.money began hiring senior capital‑markets engineers last week, it wasn’t just staffing up - it was a clear sign they plan to aggressively shake up India's retail investing scene. As the fifth‑largest UPI app with over 10 million downloads and 30-40 million core users, Super.money aims to plug stock trading directly into everyday payments by late 2025, targeting those same 30-40 million users at near‑zero incremental CAC.

This move echoes international precedents. In the U.S., Robinhood turned casual payment apps into trading gateways, onboarding 22 million accounts within three years of launch, driven by zero‑commission trades and easy onboarding. In Europe, Revolut’s “Invest” module grew to 15 million users by bundling equities alongside prepaid cards and crypto, boosting average revenue per user by 25 percent. China’s Alipay, too, embeds Yu’e Bao money‑market funds into its wallet, giving 800 million users savings‑plus‑investment options. The big challenge for Super.money is to adjust their strategies for India's diverse population of 1.4 billion, considering their varying financial knowledge, language differences, and reliance on mobile internet.

The timing couldn’t be better: demat accounts swelled from 40 million in FY20 to 185 million in FY25, a 40 percent CAGR, while active NSE clients rose from 16 million to 47 million (30 percent annualized growth). Equities have delivered 18 percent annualized returns over five years, drawing mobile‑first savers into the stock market. Super.money will leverage its UPI pay‑in/pay‑out loops, AI‑driven prompts and and all the data it collects to gently guide users towards investing. Think of a gig worker who just bought groceries might see a message suggesting they invest their leftover change in a safe investment fund.

Yet India’s broking battleground is fiercely crowded.

Groww is currently the biggest stockbroker, holding 26.6 percent of all active clients. Zerodha is second with 16.5 percent, and Angel One is third with 15.4 percent. Newer players like PhonePe's Share.Market and Mobikwik Securities are focusing on getting their existing customers to also invest in the stock market. They're especially interested in futures and options (F&O) trading, as this type of trading still generates up to 80% of what stockbrokers earn.

Several unaddressed issues could trip up its ambitions. SEBI’s recent tightening of F&O lot sizes and margin norms threatens to cut derivative revenues by 30-50 percent for volume‑driven brokers. Cyber fraud is on the rise - India saw a 175 percent surge in finance‑sector phishing in early 2024, which demands iron‑clad security and consumer education. Unlike the U.S. and Europe, where investment platforms are adding options like ESG (investments focused on environmental, social, and governance factors) and fractional assets (owning small parts of expensive assets), India doesn't have rules for these new digital investments or other less common assets. This uncertainty is holding back innovation.

Operationally, Super.money must also confront dormant demat accounts - roughly 40 percent of the 185 million are inactive - and a clutch of semi‑urban and rural users who still rely on point‑of‑service broking agents. The app’s AI prompts will need hyper‑localized tuning, not only in language but in cultural cues: what resonates with a software engineer in Bengaluru may not move a farmer in Madhya Pradesh.

To succeed, we think Super.money should focus on the following:

• Get inactive users investing

• Help users learn and stay safe

• Make money in new ways: Offer services like lending money for investments, giving loans using stocks as collateral, and selling insurance, like other growing financial tech companies.

• Find new things to invest in: Look into brand new investment options, like small pieces of real estate you can buy digitally or markets where people bet on future events, so they can keep growing even as traditional stock trading becomes less profitable.

International comparisons offer both inspiration and caution. Robinhood’s meteoric rise ended in scrutiny over gamification and order‑flow conflicts; Revolut’s trading arm struggled with choke‑point outages during market turbulence; Alipay’s Yu’e Bao saw massive inflows but now grapples with yield‑compression in China’s low‑rate environment. Super.money must engineer for scale without replicating these pitfalls, crafting a roadmap that blends global best practices with India’s regulatory and consumer‑behavior realities.

As India marches toward 200 million demat holders by 2030, the fight for the next 100 million investors will test who can marry slick UX, responsible design and razor‑sharp operations. In a market where past discount pioneers have become sustainable franchises through relentless execution, Super.money’s next chapter may determine whether it becomes a major global success, or another company that didn't quite make it.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

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“Hum Saath Saath Hai”: Udaan Buys ShopKirana To Boost Profitability, FMCG Play

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The B2B giant is keeping the deal amount hush-hush, but it’s clearly doubling down after last month’s $114 Mn Series G close. Call it a grocery power play with profitability on the shopping list.

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